What’s Up?
Despite the preponderance of tame Long-billed Curlews, Marbled Godwits, and Western Gulls in gorgeous breeding plumage, the folks on the Morro Bay Canon Destination workshop were a bit tuckered out from our long Saturday beach walks. And they wanted some variety. In search of that, we spent about two hours with a very handsome and very cooperative male Anna’s Hummingbird. Nobody was bored.
I pack tonight. I will be getting up quite early as my Monday flight to Phoenix departs San Luis Obispo at 6:20am. From there it is on to MCO where Jim will be picking me up at about 4:30pm. Good luck with my 40 minute connection time….
This blog post took less than an hour to prepare and was published at 9:02pm on Sunday, two minutes past midnight on Monday on the east coast. Good night.
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Image #1: Rock Rose 3X2 |
Lens Quiz
Both the 3X2 image above and the square crop below were created from the same RAW file. The 3X2 is a minuscule crop from the original.
What lens or lens/TC combination was used to create the original image?
a-Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM lens
b- Canon EF 180mm f/3.5L Macro USM lens
c-Canon EF 180mm f/3.5L Macro USM lens with the Canon Extender EF 1.4X III
d-Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens
e-some other lens/TC combination; if this, which?
Note: the flower was about two and one-half to three inches in diameter.
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Image #2: Rock Rose Square |
Image Preference
Which of the two images above do you like best, the 3X2 version or the square crop. Please let us know why.
Please
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As close as you appear to be, I think you had the lens, extension tube and TC in that order. Lynn and I are great.
Thanks for the clarification. (Folks often confuse extension tube and extender). Answer in Thursday’s blog. Later and love, artie
ps; folks should know that with the setup you describe, at least with Canon, they would need to focus manually. In theory at least, if you go lens/1.4X TC/extension tube, AF should function (albeit slowly).
I like the first image the most. I find the square image overwhelming–the red is almost too much–but that’s just me.
I agree with others here, that you used the 100-400 because you’ve been talking it up so much. But you also used the 1.4X tele-extender with it because you can be just as close to the subject, yet, it’s 1.4X bigger. I’m guessing you would have had to zoom into the flower a bit to get that much of a closeup.
i like the square to emphasize the symmetry of this image
Misspelling in the above blog post–“miniscule” is spelled with one I and two U’s–“minuscule”.
Many thanks. I consistently spell that one incorrectly! artie
I prefer the second one- up close and very personal. 180 lens with extenders, when you know how to use them.
Don
To me, 3×2 looks/feels better. Lens used; 100-400II + 2TCIII (manual focus of course).
I prefer the 3×2. 100-400mm with a TC and Extender combo.
Hi Gary, Hope that all is well. You are either right or close. Please explain what you mean by “with a TC and Extender combo.” Love to you both. artie
My favorite is he first one. I find that the 3×2 looks more natural and the flower has some room to breath. Of course with any image beauty is in the eye of the beholder 🙂
Many tanks Lady D. I like that one best too. a
As of 3:03pm eastern time on Monday, nobody has gotten the lens question right 🙂 a
I like the 3X2, I like the feeling out outward progression on the sides, if that makes sense to you?
Hi, Artie. I prefer the 3X2 because of all the nice petal detail it provides. I have no idea what lens/TC combination you used, but the 100-400 at closest focus is actually about 50-180 mm, so it’s probably pretty similar in terms of its field of view to the 180 mm macro. If you set it to maybe 150-200 mm, then it’s probably similar to the 100 mm macro. So again, no idea what lens you used. Lovely images!
first: I prefer the 3X2: why/ because one gets a better sense of structure, and the fabric of the petal
second: d: the 100 -400. Why: you’ve been punting it so much!
First – i prefer the oblong version. Why? because you get a better sense of the structure of the pic and the petal fabric.
Second: which lens. Well, you’ve been punting the 100-400 so much, its got to be that! “d”.
Congrats to you and Denise making the current issue of
Outdoor Photographer!
Doug
Hi Doug,
Thank you kindly 🙂
Ditto. a
Same answers… I think 100-400mm II. I also like the 3×2 crop better.
Couldn’t really say, although I’d be willing to bet that it wasn’t option c because the 180 doesn’t work properly with the teleconverters, at least not when mounted on a 1D-X or a 7D. The whole camera shuts down and you need to pull the battery in order to reboot it. I’ll guess this was taken with the 100mm macro, and I like the wider crop the best.
If that is happening then there is something wrong with something. I have used my 180 macro with the 1.4X TC many times with a variety of camera bodies without a problem. best, artie
Huh, maybe there’s something wrong with my lens then. It works with the TC until the camera body powers down, and then it won’t turn back on until I remove and replace the battery. I spoke with someone in Costa Rica once who had the same problem (with a 5D-MkII) so I had always assumed it was just an incompatibility. Maybe some of the lenses were made that way.
Sean, my 180mm Canon macro lens works great with both the 1.4X III and 2X III extenders on my 1DX and 5D Mark III camera bodies. I almost always use live view and manual focus with this lens for stationary subjects, but autofocus with this lens (with or without teleconverters) for moving subjects like butterflies is much faster and more accurate with the 1DX than with the 5D3. I have never experienced the type of problem you reference using the 180mm with either extender or camera body.
Canon recommends mounting teleconverters to the lens before mounting the teleconverter to the camera. Some say it doesn’t matter, but I figure they must have some reason for saying it so have followed their advice any time I use a teleconverter with any lens or camera body. If you haven’t been doing that it might be worth a try.
For me the square crop, I find this is very lovely way to crop flowers, very pleasing to the eye, the crop shown i like a lot, but would also look great cropped square showing more of the petals.
3×2, it doesn’t feel so crowded.
Another vote for the 100-400.
Our new toy, the 100-400mm II
The first because it is more of a good thing. HAS to be the 100-400 surely?